Gerhardt Fuchs, one time drummer for !!!, LCD Soundsystem and currently Maserati and soon to be Australian visitors The Juan MacLean, died in an elevator accident over the weekend.
The drummer was at a party in his hometown of Williamsburg where he fell to his death down an elevator shaft,
say the New York Times:
At about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Mr. Fuchs, 34, who had attended a benefit party on the building’s seventh floor, was stuck on a freight elevator between the fourth and fifth floors, friends and the police said. He had been trying to jump out of the stalled car when his jacket got caught on something, causing him to fall to the bottom of the shaft. Another man, who was not identified by the police, was riding with Mr. Fuchs in the elevator but safely jumped to a fourth floor hallway.
Alex Frankel, Mr. Fuchs’s roommate in Bushwick, who sings with the band Holy Ghost!, said he arrived at the party just before 1 a.m. and heard that somebody had fallen. He peered into the shaft and saw a figure lying face down.
“We flipped him over and it was Jerry,” Mr. Frankel said. “When we found him he was not able to talk.”
Mr. Fuchs was pronounced dead at Bellevue Medical Center.
Over the last decade, Fuchs was known as an NY-based drummer extraordinaire, hitting the skins for a swathe of the Brooklyn band scenes funkier, dancier projects including LCD Soundsystem, !!! and more recently, Maserati, MSTRKRFT and The Juan MacLean.
The Juan MacLean wrote this
tribute on his website:
I am too devastated to go into details about Jerry's death in the early hours of 11/08/2009. You can read about it in this New York Times article. Many are trying to contact me, in disbelief, to confirm if this is indeed a true story, and I am writing to confirm that it is. Jerry fell down an elevator shaft in a warehouse building in Brooklyn and was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to the hospital.
Jerry was one of my best and most loyal friends. He was hands-down the best drummer I have ever played with or seen for that matter. Jerry was with me from the start of The Juan MacLean, and we had countless adventures together all over the world. He was utterly sincere and fiercely loyal. During a particularly difficult time, while backstage in a club in Chicago, Jerry told me "Juan, I will follow you to the end of the earth and I will always be there for you." That was Jerry, the greatest drummer in the world, the greatest friend you could ever have.
No word on how this affects The Juan MacLean's upcoming Australian tour, which includes shows at the Pyramid Rock Festival, Field Day and Summadayze.